


New Boy in Town

by Merfilly



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Genderswap, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-31
Updated: 2006-12-31
Packaged: 2017-12-05 11:17:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/722669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dinah gets hit with a magic spell. Then there's the fallout.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Boy in Town

When the experimental and stolen ray gun hit Black Canary, she felt a distinct tingle, but commenced to kick off on the bad guys. She did not feel anything after the fact, and let it go as a strange fluke. Oracle's advice to get checked over at STAR labs went in one ear and out the other, with Canary pleading a new episode of Lost she had TiVo'd to watch that night.

She fell asleep during it, of course, as she always did. There were too many subplots to keep up with for her to stay fully tuned; that was what she had to deal with in real life. This week's latest batch had been was Nightwing sleeping with Oracle, why was Spoiler so hung up on Dinah's mentoring, and was Ollie really, really that stupid.

When she woke just after dawn, still sprawled out on her couch, the blonde felt very odd all over. She groaned, and stretched deeply, her entire body flexing with cramped muscles. It was at the height of the stretch that she realized there was something terribly amiss. Normally, reaching up had the natural effect of lifting her not inconsiderable bosom into view more clearly.

There was no bosom lifting.

Dinah's scream was immediate, as was the slapping of hands on a very flat chest. Those hands explored further, as the scream became something of a hysterical gibberish and crying. Flat chest gave way to a stomach that did not pinch in so much, though was still defined by solid muscle. Neither hips nor backside curved out the way they ought to. And in the front; her (his) whimpers turned back into a scream of denial.

"Dinah?! Canary, come in! What's happening?!" Oracle's voice penetrated the fog of complete, utter denial in Dinah's mind.

"Umm," Dinah began, but that was not her alto. The voice was too low to even be a sexy wake up voice. "Oh my god, this is so not happening."

"Oh my…Dinah, stay right where you are; I'm going to…oh crap…" The voice on the other end was frantic and worried. "Just stay there, and trust me."

`~`~`~`~`

Barbara looked up as the door opened, still unable to believe what her voice recognition software and biometric readers on Dinah had told her. Alfred was holding it open as the most bewildered looking young man entered, long blonde hair falling to frame the miserable expression.

"There you go, Miss Dinah," Alfred said, refusing to let outward appearance affect his knowledge of the person's identity. "Miss Barbara, I truly must get back to the Manor before Master Bruce rises today, but I do appreciate your sense of my discretion in this matter."

"I'm just glad you were awake, Mister Pennyworth. My father told me you were one of the most trustworthy people in Gotham City," Babs replied, while Dinah was taking to the couch. Alfred nodded and withdrew, leaving the strangely transformed Black Canary in the care of her partner.

"You have Bruce Wayne's butler on speed dial for what reason?" Dinah asked with a suffering tone. "Though at least he didn't laugh at me like Nightwing or Robin would have."

"He's helped with special courier problems in the past, over at the Pee Dee. I thought he might help me." Barbara tired not to smirk at the knowledge of all that Alfred had done over the years for Gotham, not the least was raising Bruce so well. She then really, really looked at Dinah, who was lying on the couch in sweats and a tee shirt. Babs figured it was probably a good thing that her friend had not been wearing jeans when this happened, and blushed furiously for even thinking on that anatomical change.

"I should have gone to STAR," Dinah admitted before Babs could get in an 'I told you so' moment. "That ray gun?"

"Was a genetic recombinant device. In your case, it apparently switched one x to a y." Babs pointed at her computer screen and showed Dinah the DNA helix. "They'll have to figure out the right way to undo it, but I already have them working on it."

Dinah sat up, his eyes narrowing. "Babs, Alfred's not just a butler is he?"

"What?" Babs tried to keep up with her friend's shift of focus.

"He let himself in. Even knowing he was coming, that is odd. And you had your computer up and running when he came in. That means he …knows you are Oracle." Dinah looked as if he was on a case, and Babs realized it was a coping method, trying to keep Dinah off the thought of being a male.

"Yes," Babs admitted tightly, wishing now that she had relied on Batman instead.

"Okay, not pushing for more…secret identities and all that, but if you try to tell me that sweet old man is involved in the plague of Bats on this city…I won't believe you." Dinah pushed himself to sit up, still very tired and very freaked out.

"Why don't you go take a nap, while I wait on STAR labs?" Babs tried not to blush again when Dinah nodded and padded off to the bedroom. What had been normal in the past took on a new edge as Babs watched a backside that could give Nightwing a run for his money go down the hall to her bed.

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah's second wake up was no more pleasant than the first. He came face to face with his altered state, again, and had that panic feeling all over again. Then he realized he had a very uncomfortable pressure that needed to be taken care of. Which meant touching…it. He bit his lip as he went to the bathroom, finally facing that part that most fully made him aware of the complete transformation he had suffered. He slowly pulled the sweats down, closing his eyes at first. He had never felt squeamish about guy parts before, but then they had been attached to studly men with tasty bodies.

Still, the need to go and a tiny bit of curiosity helped. He cracked his eyes open at last, quirking one eyebrow.

"Who'd've guessed?" he muttered, comparing what he saw and now handled to what he, as a girl, had seen in the past. If he had to be impartial, he would say that his new 'Y' chromosome was well equipped. He finished his business, washed his hands, and then actually looked into the mirror. There was no sense in holding off coming to grips with what he currently was.

The face staring back at him was perfectly matched to what he knew to be her face…just masculine. It was as if she had been born with a male twin, he decided, taking the shirt off to look at his physique. He realized that it was a very good thing she had stripped to grungies the night before. Had she still been in costume, or even wearing her more usual negligee, the wakeup he had would have been far more painful.

"Dinah?" Barbara called from the bedroom door, and Dinah absently pulled the bathroom one open. He stood there in the doorway, shirt still off, and the sweats hanging loosely on his hips. With the light of the bathroom framing him, giving his hair a tussled golden look, he had no idea what effect he projected. It was all Babs could do to not just drop her jaw as she stared at her delicious houseguest. Even self-reminders that it was DINAH were not helping the redhead keep perspective.

"Yeah, Babs? Got some good news for me, or am I going to have to hit the costume shop again?" he rumbled, clueless to the way his intonations played over every single nerve in Barbara's body.

"Umm, yes, Professor Hamilton said he is working on it but as of now, it is looking like an effect that will have to wear off on its own." Babs tried hard not to consider what that was going to do to her REM sleep.

"How long, Babs?" The look on his face was such that said volumes, begged for a short duration. The redhead cleared her throat, not looking back at that rippling chest, or those sculpted abs.

"It could be as much as six months. They said using the ray again could have fatal consequences. That was the first thing I asked." She rolled forward when Dinah just slumped against the doorjamb. "It could be less."

"I am so not cutting my hair," Dinah told her. He looked down at his friend, noting that he seemed to have gained a couple of inches in height with everything else.

"We'll work out something to help you get through," Babs promised. Inwardly she tried to dispel images of 'comforting' the handsome vigilante, and found that not even thinking of Dick could push it away.

"I'll need a new costume," he mentioned, finally moving out of the bathroom. Barbara immediately giggled, and then full out laughed. "What, Babs?" He self-consciously looked down at himself.

"You'd be sooooo cute in your regular one now," Babs snorted.

"You are sooooo wrong."

`~`~`~`~`

Dinah found that Dick's left over clothing fit him okay, if he got creative with them. He slipped out of the Clocktower to attend to some shopping, while Barbara was gone on some other errand. He was half way through finding shoes that fit better than Dick's sneakers when his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered cautiously.

"Umm, I think I have a wrong number." It was Ollie, sounding so thoroughly confused that Dinah had to chuckle.

"No Ollie, and boy do I have a joke for you," he said in a warm voice. He then heard a thud, a muffled curse, and a distinctly feminine laugh before muffled questions of concern reached over the phone.

"Hey, Dinah, what did you tell him?" came Mia's voice over the phone, and a grumbled protest from Ollie in the background. 

"I just talked to him," Dinah said, letting his voice tell the story. Mia's yip of surprise and the clatter of the phone being dropped made her laugh again. He might as well enjoy what he could out of it. 

"Dinah, Ollie is on his way to Gotham," Connor said smoothly. "He was going to invite you here for a chili party, but seems to be rather insistent that he come there."

"Why am I not surprised?" Dinah asked, sighing. He eyed the shoes as Connor coughed, regaining his composure. 

"I think I will just keep Mia here, rather than us trying to accompany him," the younger Green Arrow said, perplexed but hiding it behind his zen approach to life. 

`~`~`~`~`

"No, Babs, I'll be over tomorrow," Dinah told the woman over the receiver. "Ollie will probably be in town soon, and he can't meet me at your place." 

"True. I did order you a new uniform. I had to estimate your size," Babs said, contemplating exactly what size Dinah might be in other things right now. 

"Did you tell Batman Ollie was on his way? And about me?" Dinah asked as he paused in stretching his leg on the counter. Thankfully, his flexibility seemed intact, even if there were some strange new pulls at certain moves.

"Batman grunted at the archer's imminent arrival, but said it was a shame about you. He'll hope for a quick recovery of your regular appearance."

"He did not," Dinah said, laughing at his friend's teasing.

"Well he did say you needed to take a night or two to get used to your new form, to practice your style, as your center of gravity and likely your force have changed. And he suggested NOT calling Wildcat for this. Something about Grant not being able to cope well with strange events along these lines." 

"Well, I'm not calling on the mini mites. And Batman is too busy for me, so who in the hell can I spar against?" Dinah asked. "And don't say Ollie; my style and his clash."

"I took the liberty of asking Batgirl to meet you here tomorrow afternoon," Babs answered. "Oops, speaking of your boyfriend, he just exited the taxi downstairs."

"You really do keep me on a tight watch," Dinah replied to that. "Bye, Oracle. I don't think you need to listen in to Ollie's nervous breakdown."

"Oh but it would be priceless for my archives of embarrassing moments."

"Don't make me turn the necklace off." He tapped the canary he wore.

"Alright, leaving you two alone." Babs let the link go to standby, which required Dinah using a trigger word to activate it, or for her biometric reading to hit certain levels of critical activity. 

Not a full minute later, there was a knock on the door, and Dinah crossed the floor to open it. He did check the peephole, and saw the man he was involved with pacing back and forth, shaking his head. Dinah swung the door in, and tried hard not to laugh as Ollie looked him over critically.

What Ollie saw was a boyishly faced young man with a perfect body, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. He saw the difference in height, the slight change of musculature, and the fact that Dinah had tamed the long hair back into a tight braid.

"Come in, Ollie."

"I'll be damned," the archer whispered. He felt the cold clenching in his guts again, just as he had on the phone earlier, but he stepped into the apartment to face the new Dinah.

"It's not permanent," Dinah reassured him, but Ollie shook his head. "What?" Now Dinah was afraid, worried that Ollie would never look at her again the same way.

"Dinah, you … I don't even know where to begin, but I think I need to admit something to you," he began, his eyes failing to meet hers as he watched how the line of the shorts enticed more attention than necessary. Dinah blinked, hearing a very distinctive note creep into Ollie's voice. The smaller blonde perched on the back of the sofa, unconsciously causing the shorts to draw tight.

"Ollie, is this about Hal?" Dinah ventured a guess, not too sure he liked where this was headed. Ollie nodded, a guilty look in his eyes as he forced himself to look up.

"Pretty Bird, Hal hasn't got a thing on you, the way those legs would look wrapped around me right now, or what I'd like to do to you, just to let you know how that body feels," Ollie rumbled in his sexiest voice. Dinah gasped, as it had the usual effect on him, but in unusual fashion. Now he could feel just how tight the shorts were, and the painful consequence. Dinah slid off the couch, groaning at the sensations.

"Ollie, I don't think…" he began, but then the archer was there, one hand on the back of his head, their lips meeting, and one hand going straight for the shorts. Dinah's mind more or less blanked at that point, and the archer took care of educating his lover one more time.

`~`~`~`~`

Ollie kept the kiss as intense as he could, to keep Dinah distracted. As he slid his hand inside the shorts, Dinah mewed against his lips with the shock of being touched like this. The archer gently folded his hand around the hardening erection, holding back a moan of his own to savor Dinah's virginal responses to every sensation. The smaller man instinctively bucked his hips forward, drawing a smile to the other's lips.

"Ahh, Pretty Bird," Ollie murmured, breaking their kiss. "Trust in me," he purred at Dinah's ear, slowly releasing his lover's cock. Dinah's hungry gasp made him chuckle before he scooped the smaller man up.

"Ollie, I'm…."

"Shh. No worries, no nothing. Let me do it all," the archer said tenderly. "It's not everyday you get to find out what it feels like to be the other half," he teased. Dinah smiled up at him, nuzzling his neck. It almost felt unreal to Ollie, to have this lovely man in his arms, one who almost smelled like Dinah, and had all her mannerisms. He considered just how lucky he was as he carried Dinah to the bedroom. 

"But if we do this, will it change…us, when things get normal?" Dinah asked, his voice laden with concern that Ollie's self-sureness could not sweep away.

"Pretty Bird, I'm in love with you, not whatever is on the outside package," he told the man truthfully. When Ollie laid Dinah on the bed, that seemed so out of place with its very feminine floral print, he had to smile and claim a new kiss, pressing down over Dinah as the kiss grew into a gasping feast of tongues and lips. Dinah's impatient writhing beneath Ollie reminded him of pressing concerns, and he pulled back to tend those. 

First, he teased his lover with a searing kiss over each nipple, pleased to learn that they were still as sensitive as Dinah's were as a woman. Dinah's tiny mewing cries and the upward pressing of his hips were more than Ollie could resist, leading to a furious attempt to discard his clothing. The fact he managed to keep some contact with Dinah the entire time was not lost on the smaller man, as Dinah sat up to reciprocate the kisses. While Ollie tried to get out of his shirt in record time, Dinah dropped kisses on the skin he exposed, until he finally got to Ollie's throat and ear. 

"You're wearing the cologne I bought you," Dinah whispered, before flicking his tongue out to trace the rapid pulse in his throat. Ollie groaned as he opened his belt and fly, barely remembering to kick his shoes off first. Now Dinah did pause, taking the time to eye him hungrily as he rose long enough to remove pants and briefs in one smooth motion. He managed to snag the socks off in record time, and then straightened to find Dinah's eyes devouring him. It made him surge even harder to see the naked lust in the blue eyes investigating his body.

"Your turn, Pretty Bird," Ollie rumbled with his patented dirty old man voice. Dinah giggled, a strangely thrilling sound in his new tenor. With an easy grace the slender man rose to his knees, slowly pulling the shorts down over his hard-on. Ollie watched the seductive flair Dinah had, even as a man, with a growing impatience. He warred with himself, knowing without a doubt that if he did not go slow, that this was not going to forward his cause with the volatile Canary.

"There." The slender man tossed his shorts to one side, watching Ollie's face for his full reaction to seeing him unclothed. As always, there came the small smile, as true hair color was put at odds with blonde tresses. But the thing that arrested Dinah's attention was the way he could see Ollie fighting baser instincts, see the way he was fighting for control. It was obvious that Ollie was very near the point they both pushed each other to on a regular basis, the one where neither gave a thought to what marks might be left. Some part of his fear over that must have flashed through his eyes, because Ollie immediately calmed, moving close to hug Dinah tightly to him.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Dinah; I swear it," Ollie told the other man, stroking the back of Dinah's head. 

"I just don't know, Ollie; I feel…so confused." The full body contact was alleviating some confusion though, as sensitive skin rubbed against firm male muscle. "It's just so new, and overwhelming. I don't remember it being like this before. Not anything at all like this."

"Shh, baby. You’re just feeling all the new things at one time, instead of having grown up in this body, awakening to it slowly," Ollie told him. "Trust in me," he urged, one more time as he pressed Dinah back among the pillows. The blue eyes closed, trying to find the strength to keep moving forward, to let Ollie show him the way it all felt as a man.

"I trust you." Dinah opened his eyes, to see his lover smile tenderly. The archer then grazed over Dinah's chest again, kissing and gently nipping the skin with reverence. While his mouth was busy, he took care to keep his hands away from Dinah's pelvis, caressing the flat stomach instead. 

"I love you, Dinah," he whispered, moving down the line of the stomach, over the pale skin with tender kisses, until he was kneeling over the hard shaft. 

"mmmm," the smaller man moaned, finding words to be almost impossible. The moan grew into a gasp, as Ollie flicked his tongue out over the shaft's tip. When Ollie went further, teasing a line with his tongue down the underside, Dinah cried out in both want and shock. Ollie continued to tease, knowing it would not take much effort to take Dinah over the edge. He drew his hands along Dinah's flanks, feeling the corded muscles that were not familiar, and yet were so much a part of this experience. It was only when Dinah's hungry cry threatened to ruin part of the ceiling that Ollie took pity and closed his mouth around the head, tasting the pre-cum and slowly sliding down.

Dinah’s immediate reaction was to try and meet that welcome heat, to push into it, but Ollie was experienced enough to have anticipated the need for thrusting. His strong hands held Dinah’s hips in place, letting him savor the taste, the feel of the rigid cock in his mouth.

Dinah’s needful moans changed at once to the cries of near ecstasy, a sound Ollie welcomed in any register. The archer made a small noise against Dinah’s cock and was rewarded with the hot seed as Dinah came. Ollie used one hand now to lightly caress the sac, adding small ripples and aftershocks to that first orgasm. 

Dinah smiled lazily as Ollie crawled up his body, pulling him close for a kiss, his tongue darting into the elder man’s and tasting himself there. That small act made Ollie nearly lose control again, but he held back, contenting himself with pressing his straining erection against Dinah’s thigh.

“Hmm, now I know why you are so fond of oral,” Dinah murmured with another smile for him. The archer ran his hand up the flat stomach of his lover, running eyes heavy with lust over every inch of skin. 

"I'm fond of everything you ever do to me, Pretty Bird," Ollie rumbled. "And I want to make sure you enjoy this completely." His lips found the tender hollow at the base of Dinah's throat, delving his tongue in to taste the slight sweat. "You still keep your little bag, Dinah?" he asked softly, pulling away slightly. The smaller man smiled and leaned across the bed away from Ollie, reaching into the nightstand drawer. 

The archer watched the line of Dinah's braid accent the ridges of the spine, the play of the muscles in the shoulders and melding down to the narrow hips. He moved quickly, pressing behind Dinah to kiss both neck and shoulders hungrily. 

"You are very hungry," Dinah whispered, passing him the small designer bag that hid the private entertainment toys and lubricants. Ollie took it, and then coaxed Dinah into lying on his stomach, snagging the pillows closer to his hips. 

"Who wouldn't be, Pretty Bird, with your gorgeous self and a whole new avenue to explore? I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't made some women faint by now," he told his lover with a smile. Tenderly, he started caressing the spots along spine and side that had always driven Dinah crazy, loving the way the smaller man writhed into the pillows, clutching the sheets.

"Oliver," Dinah groaned, feeling the sluggish twitch of his cock trying to respond. The archer moved to kneel behind his lover, using the lightest touch he knew to caress the slight curve of the backside. Dinah shivered, feeling the well-known string callouses on the body that still felt overwhelmingly alien to him. 

"Trust me," the archer murmured, running his thumb down the split on that curve, before leaning over to kiss Dinah at the small of the back. The smaller man arched at the dual sensations, moaning with the need to go further, and just a touch of hesitation. Dinah knew, understood well what Ollie wanted now, and this had never worked well for them in the past. As if he had divined the thought, Ollie laid fully over Dinah, pressing close without pressure, to kiss Dinah's shoulder. "It will be very different, Pretty Bird. A whole new world of feeling," he promised.

"I'm trusting in you, Ollie," Dinah told him. "I…want this." He wanted it for Ollie's sake, and his own burning curiosity. 

"I love you, Dinah. Always have," Ollie whispered. He drew his hands down the smaller man's back as he straightened, admiring the lines one more time. He turned his attention to the small bag, bringing out a small bottle of glide, smiling that his Pretty Bird still used the same brand for her lonely nights. 

Dinah could hear the pop of the cap, and then feel as Ollie shifted again. He closed his eyes, rubbing his hips against the pillows as the older man caressed his hip lightly. He kept them closed as a slippery finger started describing small circles against his entrance, trying hard not to tense up. The pop of the cap closing preceded Ollie moving back to where he could kiss Dinah's back, that one finger still circling, not entering. Dinah could feel the tension mounting in the anticipation, but also the slow recovery of his cock responding to Ollie's expert caresses.

"Relax, Pretty Bird," Ollie soothed as he pushed the finger in slowly. Between the glide and his gentleness, Dinah was only feeling a growing heat, and need to push back or thrust forward. His hips rocked and Ollie found the right rhythm to match it. When Dinah's moans got needy, he added another finger, never losing the rhythm as he used his free hand to stroke his own cock. 

"More," Dinah panted, when he was fully accustomed to two fingers. The pillows beneath his cock were giving him just the right amount of friction as he felt Ollie comply. A moan turned to whimper, as the stretching this time took a little more to get used to.

"Easy, lover…easy," Ollie soothed, shifting just a little, pressing his fingers deep enough to find the magic spot. Dinah's immediate buck let him know just where to touch, and he smiled. "There, Pretty Bird…so different…." He could tell from Dinah's inarticulate cries, it was the right moment. He eased himself closer to the smaller man, slowly pulling his fingers out. The slender man cried out again at suddenly feeling so empty, his breath catching in a sob of frustration. "Feels good?" Ollie asked, drawing Dinah's attention to his voice, as he slowly pressed up against the firm backside. 

"God yes! Oliver Queen, if you don't f…" The slender man's voice trailed off into a moaning cry as Ollie pressed deep into the man, biting his own lip at the sensation. "OLLIE!" Dinah all but screamed the man's name as the archer pulled back. Sharp nails scratched fitfully at the sheets while he tried to press back against Ollie. 

Firm, calloused fingers dug into sharp, slender hips as the archer slowly gave way to his need to fully possess Dinah this way. It was all Dinah could do, between the hard thrusts of the man behind him and the feel of the pillows against his own swollen member not to black out. Each thrust seemed to hit that spot Ollie had touched with his fingers, setting off tiny ripple through his body. Ollie's harsh breathing, his hands holding the hips bruisingly tight, all added to the abandon of the moment as Dinah felt the surge of another orgasm impending. He dug his nails into the pillow near his head, turning his mouth into it as he screamed his release just moments before Ollie gave a harsh cry for his own.

Both men were quite weak and shaking as it all passed, slowly curling together on the less messy side of the bed, Dinah's head tucked under Ollie's chin. 

"So you knew about Hal?" he sheepishly asked, as Dinah kissed his chest.

"Hmm." The smaller man was close to unconscious.

"Sleep, Pretty Bird…I've got you forever, baby."

`~`~`~`~`

Barbara tried hard not to giggle as Dinah walked in looking both extraordinarily pleased, and quite sore. She had tried hard to be good, to not worry over the encounter with Oliver Queen. She had had no idea how the notorious playboy would treat his long time lover over the bizarre change. So her innocent check of the apartment monitors had picked up unmistakable sounds when Barbara gave in to the urge. Now, she knows why Dinah shifts from side to side, trying to look just restless rather than truly fucked beyond consciousness.

"Get Arrow calmed down over the latest interference in his love life?" she asked with a perfectly straight face. Dinah groaned at the woman, considering for just a moment that he should share. Instead, he sighs and stands gingerly, moving to the exercise room. Barbara follows, watching as the man removes his shirt to start limbering up.

"Ollie is just fine. Said he'll even move out here for the duration, to help me deal with it," Dinah told the redhead. "I told him that wasn't necessary, and that we should stick to our slow and steady approach to life," he added. What he left out was that Ollie was staying a few more nights, and they already had plans for a 'date' that evening.

"Hmm." Barbara turned away from watching Dinah's lean form, the slight marks of bites and nails barely showing on the skin that was exposed. She found herself glad of the distraction of Batgirl arriving, until the girl did what Babs had wanted to. The assassin turned vigilante openly checked Dinah out and gave a smile after removing her mask.

"Dinah not girl, not unpretty," Cass said, trying to gauge the new strength and balance position. The young Batgirl took up first position from Dinah's own art form, and the man tried to follow. Batgirl cocked her head to one side, in the pose of 'no, that's not right, try harder'.

Barbara stayed in the workout area, watching as Batgirl attempted to teach Dinah how to use the art with his newfound mass and shape. The red head could not be faulted for wanting so strongly to touch the new physique. After all, Cass was touching Dinah a lot, and it was all innocent. They were teammates after all. Babs was quite sure if she could just feel that corded, tightly wound muscle under her fingertips, she could ignore the phantom tingles in areas that had no sensation now.

When Batgirl finished, Dinah more or less collapsed on the mat. While he lay there, panting for breath, and trying not to consider how much pain he was in, Batgirl moved lithely to Barbara's side. Leaning down to speak against the elder woman's ear.

"You go; help Dinah not girl. Hurting." With that piece of torturous advice and a glance that implied knowledge beyond her years, Batgirl left for her assigned patrol zone. Barbara looked at the blonde laying prone on her exercise mat, and considered the reasons she should just call someone, Alfred again, to come get Dinah and deliver him home.

So when she clicked the connection to dial Ollie's phone, patiently explaining in voder voice that Canary would not be returning that night, she could at least say she had thought about it. When she slipped down to the mat, and started working the love-marked muscles, she could fully admit that she had weighed her options and chosen with deliberation.

Never mind the fires that seemed to erupt every time she touched Dinah or the fact that she was more than pleased when Dinah nodded off in a fitful sleep. Now both eyes and hands could feast, as Barbara kept working tense muscles so Dinah would not be so sore later. That was what she told herself, anyway, as she found the marks from Dinah's first encounter as a man were all over. 

`~`~`~`~`

Barbara woke with a slight disorientation. She was laying lower than…ahh, yes, she was in the exercise room, on the mats, next to Dinah. More specifically, next to a dreaming Dinah, with hands that were roaming of their own free will. Barbara froze solid, almost glad for the lack of sensation below her waist on one hand, and cursing it on the other. When one of those wandering hands came back up over the waist line, Barbara shivered. Dinah's light roaming touch was enough to make the red head regret her injury all over again.

The blonde cuddled closer in his sleep, nuzzling against Babs' neck and hair. Barbara wanted to let it continue, wanted more than anything to see if Dinah would work all the way through this dream of his, but Dinah was too good a friend. Barbara could not face the thought of what would happen if Dinah realized he had 'molested' her in their sleep.

"Dinah. Dinah, wake up," Babs murmured, pulling herself over to her side with difficulty. As she did, blue eyes opened to peer at her lazily.

"You made me pass out with your back rub, again, didn't you?" he asked, smiling softly. "Still taking care of me."

"Someone has to, Dinah," Barbara said, somewhat gruffly. The smoldering remnants of being awakened by caressing hands had darkened her eyes. 

"Well, you shouldn't be sleeping on the gym floor." He sat up slowly, patting the redhead's hand gently. "Even if you do snuggle pretty nicely."

Barbara froze in the middle of pushing herself up to reacquire her chair. "You were warm," she joked, trying to cover the surge of guilt she felt at Dinah's comment.

"Yeah," Dinah said, blue eyes clouding over enough to make Babs curse herself. The paraplegic made her way into her chair, retreating into her professional mode. 

"Should probably go check the boards," she grumbled, feeling like a heel even as she felt intensely frustrated.

"If there's some light work, I could go out," Dinah offered.

"You don't have your new uniform yet, and you're still pretty tore up from whatever you did last night," Babs shot back.

"It beats staying inside with you in work mode," Dinah told her. "I'll just go home; Ollie's waiting on me anyway."

"Actually, he was going to jaunt over to Metropolis, since you fell asleep here." Barbara turned back to the blonde at hearing him curse low in his throat. "He can't be that good a lay," slipped from her mouth in pure vitriol before she could edit herself. 

"I was cursing the fact he will get in trouble over there, not whether or not I was going to be sharing his bed," Dinah snapped. "Not that my sex life should be any of your concern, Barbara. I'd rather leave that in the hands of someone not afraid to show me what this body is like, in case it winds up being permanent!" The blonde started to storm out of the gym, then had to stop to retrieve his shirt in irritable frustration, pausing to adjust the band of his pants. 

He jerked the shirt down over his head, and discovered she had rolled over to be there, reaching out for his hand.

"Dinah…you weren't asleep…." Barbara whispered.

"If there's a woman in this world that I could learn to be a guy with, don't you think it would be my best friend in the whole world?" Dinah asked softly. "I just…did not know how to ask, and you were so warm, and smelled so good…" Dinah sighed softly. "I figured if you did not want to, you would tease me about it, sweep it away. But you were enjoying it…"

"Yes, but Dinah, we can't." Barbara's voice had the harsh self-hate/pity tone Dinah had learned too well over the years.

"Why?"

"In case it escaped your attention, I'm not exactly prime material for teaching anyone sex," the redhead said bitterly. Dinah fell down to his knees, laying his head on the woman's lap. 

"Has this ever stopped Nightwing?" Dinah murmured, his eyes showing a sincere interest in her answer. Barbara could not help but trace the lines of that face, so subtly resculpted from the features of her best friend.

"Dinah, how can you be so free and open about sex? Aren't you the least concerned about how you an I will go from here if we did have sex?" Babs kept touching Dinah, though, as the blond fauned into the caresses.

"Ollie reminded me of something last night." Dinah straightened up, rising to where he was almost on eye level. "When there is love involved, the outside doesn't matter a bit." He moved in close, but slowly, letting Barbara have time to avoid the kiss. When she did not, and Dinah tasted her mouth in full cooperation, they both knew there was no turning back.

`~`~`~`~`


End file.
